A Reference Architecture for Open Source Digital Games

Introduction

This page presents the Supervised Graduation Project of Fernando Yang, conducted under the guidance of Professor Pedro Henrique Dias Valle, as a mandatory requirement for the undergraduate program at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of São Paulo (IME-USP).

The primary objective of this project is to research and develop a reference architecture for open-source digital games. By establishing a structured and well-documented foundation, the project aims to support the creation of reliable, maintainable, and extensible game software. This architecture is intended to serve as a comprehensive guideline for developers and researchers seeking to build robust, scalable, and community-oriented gaming solutions within the open-source ecosystem.

Proposal

Digital games have become an integral part of contemporary society, particularly among adolescents and young adults, often surpassing traditional forms of entertainment such as television and music. With rapid advancements in hardware and software, digital games are now employed not only for leisure but also across diverse sectors including education, corporate training, healthcare, and government. Among these applications, serious games—designed for purposes beyond entertainment—have gained prominence due to their potential to enhance learning, problem-solving, and user engagement.

As the demand for digital games continues to grow, so does interest in game development. However, creating high-quality games typically requires significant time, technical expertise, and financial resources, which can be limiting for independent developers and small teams. In this context, open-source game development emerges as a collaborative and cost-effective alternative. It promotes shared learning, innovation, and accessibility by allowing developers to study, adapt, and contribute to existing projects.

Open source principles have revolutionized software development by fostering transparency, community-driven improvements, and knowledge sharing. These same principles can greatly benefit the game development process, which often involves complex interactions between different technical and creative domains. Open-source projects also provide valuable learning opportunities, as developers can study real-world implementations and build upon the work of others.

Despite growing interest, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that offer structured methodologies, best practices, and reference models for open-source game development. Most existing resources focus on individual experiences or isolated projects, which may not provide the guidance necessary for developers to manage collaborative projects effectively or adhere to industry standards.

This project aims to address this gap by design and propose a reference architecture that can serve as a foundational guide for the development of reliable, maintainable, and community-driven digital games. This reference architecture will support developers by offering clear guidelines, promoting better resource management, and encouraging broader adoption of open-source principles in the game development field.

Methodology

To ensure the development of a reliable and high-quality Reference Architecture (RA) for open-source digital games, this project will adopt the ProSA-RA¹ process (Process for the Systematic Architecture design of Reference Architectures). ProSA-RA is a structured process that guides the design, documentation, and evaluation of reference architectures, with the goal of ensuring consistency, reusability, and alignment with the specific needs of the target domain.

The methodology of this project is organized into the following stages:

Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) The project will begin with a Systematic Mapping Study focused on existing studies related to open-source digital games. This phase aims to collect and analyze relevant academic literature that presents and discusses such projects. Key elements such as project requirements, architectural designs, development practices, tools, and technologies will be extracted and categorized. The objective is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape and identify common challenges, practices, and architectural patterns.
Elicitation of Architectural Requirements Based on the results of the SMS, the architectural requirements for the proposed RA will be identified and formalized. These will include both functional and non-functional requirements commonly observed in open-source game development. The requirements will serve as the foundation for defining the essential components, configurations, and interactions of the architecture.
Architecture Design and Representation Once the requirements are established, the reference architecture will be designed and documented using different architectural views to represent the system from multiple perspectives, ensuring clarity and completness. The documentation will follow established software architecture standards to facilitate understanding, reusability and adaptability.
Evaluation of the Architecture In the final stage, the RA will be evaluated to assess its quality, relevance, and applicability. For this purpose, the FERA² (Framework for the Evaluation of Reference Architectures) evaluation form will be used. The evaluation will be conducted by experts in software architecture and game development, whose feedback will help validate the architecture’s completeness, flexibility, and alignment with real-world development needs.

Through this structured methodology, the project aims to deliver a comprehensive and practically applicable reference architecture that supports developers in building robust, maintainable, and scalable open-source digital games.

References

Finishing the PR

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